The evolution of DarwinONE OF the greatest geologists of the 19th century went down in history as the man behind perhaps the greatest biological discovery of all time, writesDICK AHLSTROM
Evolving evidenceNOVEMBER 24th will mark the 150th anniversary of the publication ofOn the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection , in which Charles Darwin spelt out the famous theory. The big discovery, made by Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace, was not evolution itself, but the mechanism through which it works – natural selection. Some people still challenge the theory, despite it having received massive scientific validation. A recent publication entitled15 Evolutionary Gems by H Gee, R Howlett and P Campbell (www.nature.com/nature/newspdf/
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Talking through the genesTWO SMALL chemical changes – that may be all that was needed to give early humans the power to talk. The complexity of human language is something that sets us apart from our nearest relative, the chimpanzee. And yet the trigger that allowed this evolutionary gift may have come down to just two amino-acid changes in a single protein, writesDICK AHLSTROM
Spotted woodpecker is great, tho' splashed and smallANOTHER LIFE: THE DAY THE clocks go back is when we hang up the bird-feeders again. Looking around, the garden certainly hasn’t much else to offer: cotoneaster, firethorn, hawthorn, guelder rose all stripped when we weren’t looking, and just a prickly rambler rose still starred with golden hips.
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- Ready for your universal flu jab?
WOULDN’T IT be great if there was a single vaccine to cover all flu strains? Imagine the potential. One shot could reduce the global need for yearly jabs and possibly even avoid frantic races to design, manufacture and roll out vaccines in the face of pandemic strains such as the H1N1 virus.
- On the Radar
The pick of the science news
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Taking a risk in the long runRUNNING MARATHONS is quite popular – more than 12,500 runners took part in the Dublin City Marathon on October 26th. It is generally thought that popular marathon-running is a healthy development, but I cannot agree. I believe that the growing popularity of the marathon is an unfortunate development for recreational running.
- When is a theory not a theory?
THE TERM “conspiracy theory” commonly means a fringe theory that explains an event as the secret machinations of powerful Machiavellian conspirators. The modern popularity of such theories dates from the conspiracy theory that arose in the 1960s around the assassination of JFK. Mainstream opinion looks on conspiracy theories with a jaundiced eye and often ridicules them. Of course genuine conspiracies do exist, for example Abraham Lincoln died as a result of a conspiracy. And George Bernard Shaw said, “All professions are conspiracies against the laity”.
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